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Bill Self Heaps Major NCAA Tournament Praise On Bearcats Following Historic 84-68 Loss to Cincinnati

Major respect from the coaching great.
Russell Heltman|
Jan 11, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self works the sideline against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the second half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
Jan 11, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self works the sideline against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the second half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

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Cincinnati Bearcats

CINCINNATI —  Kansas head coach Bill Self declared the Bearcats an NCAA tournament team after UC's 84-68 win over Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Cincinnati beat the Jayhawks by 12 on the boards and controlled the second half with Moustapha Thiam (career-high 28 points) and Baba Miller (18 points)

It was arguably the best win of the season and their second against a Quad 1 opponent overall. UC is far from the tournament by resumé, but they stayed alive, needing to get to 21 wins on the season for a spot in the dance.

"I'm not gonna buy that shit," Self said to the media about Kansas not respecting UC. "Coming out with the same energy that you have against Arizona and other people would be equal respect. We didn't do that today, but don't make something out of nothing, because no team is 10/10 every game of the season, regardless of home or away. So, I'm not buying that we respected the opponent, but the bottom line is we didn't bring it as a unit, from an energy standpoint.

"We played an NCAA tournament team today. There's no doubt about that. They've had their moments this season where they've been inconsistent and not as good, but they were great today."

They handed Self his largest home defeat by scoring margin and posted the program's first top-10 road win since 1990. It was the Jayhawks largest home loss to an unranked opponent since 1973.

UC head coach Wes Miller was ecstatic about his team's play as they revel in the win tonight, and move on to No. 13 Texas Tech in another road matchup Tuesday.

"I think I just feel so much joy for our players, obviously, and for our staff," Miller said to the media postgame. "It's a big time win, that says a lot about Kansas and Coach Self that you know, when you feel that way after a game like this, it says a lot about the program you played against, but I just feel a tremendous amount of joy for our staff and our players, and my biggest concern now is we can't enjoy it too much, because, again, the Big 12 doesn't stop."

Cincinnati hits the road against Texas Tech on Tuesday, trying to stack five wins in a row on its pursuit of a miracle NCAA Tournament run.

That game tips off at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

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Russ Heltman
RUSSELL HELTMAN

Russ Heltman is on the Bearcats and Bengals beat for On SI. He is the morning host and producer for 89.3 WMKV in Cincinnati, OH. Russ can be found on Twitter: @RussHeltman11 or you can reach him by email at Heltmandm@yahoo.com.

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